Latest sketch plan submitted for development of Lexington Club lot on Marion Avenue

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- The Planning Board and Design Review Commission saw plans for a fresh take on an old work site.

The site of the Lexington Club, located at 52 Marion Ave., has been fenced off and dormant for more than five years after construction was started in 2006 on a

4.5-acre parcel that was to include condominiums, townhouses, a hotel, restaurant, banquet hall, spa, retail space and a parking garage.

Construction stopped in 2007, though, after funding for the project evaporated.

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Developers now propose constructing three buildings, including a 20,000-square-foot Fresh Market, a North Carolina-based specialty grocery store that sells high-quality, perishable groceries.

"We think there is a bright future in this community," said James Dewey, a representative of The Fresh Market.

This would be only the third Fresh Market in New York. One is located in Latham.

The sketch plan gives developers an opportunity to garner Planning Board and DRC input on projects before coming forward with a formal site plan proposal.

This is the second sketch plan the board has seen this year for 52 Marion Ave.

In February, developers came forward with a plan to utilize some of the already-started building footprints and partially constructed foundations as part of a 156-unit apartment complex with limited retail space.

"It has changed markedly," said City Planner Kate Maynard.

"The last two plans were slighted a little more to the residential aspect. This is much more to the commercial aspect," David Carr of the LA Group said.

There will also be a 20,000-square-foot commercial building located along Marion Avenue but not quite reaching Route 50.

Developers are proposing a four-story building along Excelsior Avenue with about 9,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor and slightly more on the second floor. The remaining space in the building would be taken up by 30 residential units and a first-floor parking garage.

Parking for the entire complex would be located behind the buildings on Excelsior and Marion avenues and around The Fresh Market.

Director of Planning and Economic Development Brad Birge said the initial proposals offer "strong pedestrian connections" between the buildings and neighboring sites. Sidewalks are being proposed along both roads that will border the complex.

Birge said the special joint meeting between the two land-use boards was a way for them to "provide some general guidance" for the development early in the process.

DRC Chairman Steve Rowland said he thought the new iteration of the project lacked a "strong feature" at the corner of Route 50 and Marion Avenue, something he said the DRC spent a lot of time with developers on in the past. "We sort of lost that anchor feature at the corner," he said.